What is either not understood or ignored about the economy

I am not saying the people should do with out a cell phone
But a surprising number of people insist on getting an expensive phone. I can get an iphone 7+ on ebay for less than 250.... that is still a pretty good phone. And yet lots of disadvantaged people will want a 700-1000 phone with a monthly payment plan. Same with cars... people buy more car than they need, when a 5 year old toyota corolla would do most people just fine

 

Well me, I bought a brand new Motorola phone for 250. Works great.

I learned my lesson on big car notes many years ago. The thing that should be understood about cars is that if you buy brand new, they lose quite a bit of their value as soon as you drive them off the lot. The best thing is to buy a gently used new car. You can especially get some good deals if you take your time and find someone who is trying to get out of one of those big car notes.

But back to the subject at hand. The system that we have now induces a psychological dependence in people to buy things to find satisfaction. That's how banks make their money. If everyone were to stop borrowing money, this system would grind to a halt.

 

Oh I know exactly how it works or doesn't work.

 

How is it that people who earn a minimum wage are sitting on the bench. Workers in retail commonly earn a minimum wage, are they “sitting on the bench” as you say?

 

Yes, that is my point. There are lots of very good phones available in the 250 price range. I am just saying that there a lot of people with lower incomes who buy new phones, phones well over 500. Just like there are a lot of people who buy expensive sneakers. I am observing that a lot of lower income people are not smart consumers... and if they were smart consumers... the burden of low income would be much lighter on them.... even with out income redistribution

Yes, but there are two different systems that we are talking about. One is the system of wealth distribution... a system that i say is going to be hard or impossible to change.

The other system is the one where consumption is like a drug that people are addicted to. And yes, in this analogy corporations are like drug pushers... they want and need people to continue in a cycle of debt and mindless consumption. But this SYSTEM is purely at our own discretion. This is a “system” that we can opt out of. This is a way that people actually can change their lives.... as compared to waiting for a change in income distribution.

Interestingly i recently saw a video about the cars that ultra wealthy people drive. A surprising number of these people drive pretty ordinary cars. Wealthy people (who did not inherit their wealth) are often very adept at not spending money.

As another example.... we are probably all familiar with asian immigrants to this country. Typically they scrimp and save in astounding ways. They relentlessly drive their children to study and succeed in school... even in “bad” schools. Usually in a single generation these families have lifted themselves out of poverty.

Truthfully, i do not pretend to offer a solution. However i think the path we are currently on does not offer a solution. And, with all respect, i do not think complaints about income distribution will accomplish what is intended

 

I'm not so sure about that. I think that its just more apparent that they are not smart consumers because of their income level. I would speculate that if you took away most of the income of people in the middle of the spectrum, you would find that they would make a lot of the same bad choices that people at the lower end of the spectrum make.

I think that what you put forward is the result of the type of capitalist system that we currently have. Its just that capitalists have paid clever psychologists to devise methods that people expert in advertising use to brainwash people into consuming. It starts at a very early age before anyone can realize what has happened. I have seen that people who have come from countries where there is little or no TV and advertising do better with handling a low income lifestyle that people who have been exposed to such pressure.

Not all ultra wealthy people are the same, just like not all low income people are the same. The people who buy Lamborghinis are wealthy, not poor people who cannot afford them.

 

Pareto guarantees that the poor will always be poor and that there will be a whole lot more poor than rich.

The good news is that it is possible to buy a quality tent for 99 dollars from walmart, if you can wait until a black friday sale.

 

A little paint, some plastic wrap on the former windows, a minor door repair - good as new.

 

My recommendation is to stop hoping someone will fix things for you and plan a better course for yourself.

 

Damn!!!

My recommendation is that you learn how to read and stop regurgitating talking points like a parrot.

I didn't ask you or anyone else like you to fix a damn thing. Since you don't appear to be able to read properly, let me help you out. The point is that measuring the quality of the economy simply by the value of GDP is shallow at best. The distribution of income should also be taken into consideration when measuring economic performance.

Get it?

 

Nope. I agree that GDP is a nonsensical measure because it includes government spending. Income distribution has nothing to do with the strength of an economy.

 

And on that point we are in sharp disagreement.